Christian churches in Italy sign ecumenical pact

Leaders of the Christian churches in Italy signed a new ecumenical pact during the opening ceremony of the first Symposium of Christian Churches in Italy, which concluded Jan. 24 in the southern city of Bari.

“We commit ourselves to assuming a public presence of the church that respects secularity and is in dialogue with society,” the churches declared in one of the key commitments of the document, born out of the Bari symposium dedicated to ecumenism.

The pact emphasizes mutual respect, social cohesion, common witness, prayer, and shared work, in the certainty of prayer to the Holy Spirit “that he may renew us in our hearts and lead us toward that full communion which only he can bring about: ‘that they may all be one’ (Jn 17:21).”

The signatures of leaders of all the Christian confessions present in Italy accompanied remarks by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who raised the question: “What does it mean to face together the great challenges of a secularized culture that no longer believes in evangelical humanism, that no longer knows how to speak of peace, that is suspicious of humanitarianism, permeated by the idolatry of personal and group individualism that fills people with fear and justifies force and closure?”

Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Polykarpos of Italy, exarch of Southern Europe, underlined that “in the wake of the patristic tradition, we recall that true unity does not cancel differences but transfigures them in communion. Just as the many strings of a lyre produce a single harmony, so the churches, in fidelity to their own identity, are called to make visible the one body of Christ.”

“This ecclesial symphony,” Polykarpos continued, “does not arise from the silencing of differences but from their transfiguration in love, according to the living experience of the undivided church of the first millennium.”

For his part, Pastor Daniele Garrone, president of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy, explained that “the signing of a ‘pact for a common journey of witness’ will be both the seal of what we have built in recent years, but above all a prelude to continuing along the path we have taken, which we have defined as the ‘Italian way to dialogue.’ The hope is therefore to be strengthened and motivated to continue walking together.”

In his greeting, Archbishop Giuseppe Satriano of Bari-Bitonto said that “in these days the prophecy of Nicaea is renewed: the unity of faith in the God of Jesus Christ, lived not in a single-tone melody but in the harmonious polyphony of our traditions. ‘There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling’ (Eph 4:4), the Apostle Paul reminds us.”

The symposium marked a significant step in ecumenical cooperation in Italy, with church leaders expressing their shared desire to deepen communion while respecting the diversity of their traditions.

This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.